Get a degree, get a job, save adorable foster siblings
from the clutches of the evil foster mom …

These are Jocylene Sanders’ top priorities as she
enters her sophomore year of college. The last thing she expects is to find
herself the champion of an entire kingdom. However, that is just what happens
when the mysterious Faerie, Rothatin Longspear, appears to her tasking her with
saving a parallel world full of creatures from her wildest dreams.

Jocylene journeys with him into the world of Fallada,
hoping for answers about her birth parents and background. What she finds is a
mystifying past, and an even more uncertain future, as her heart becomes
entangled with the stoic, battle-hardened Rothatin, as well as Eli, the
untroubled Panther Shifter with no loyalties and no home. With her heart and
soul pulled in so many directions, can Jocylene find the strength needed to
become the savior one nation so desperately needs?

Excerpt:

Okay,” Jocylene held her hands up to halt Jake’s
speech. “Let me get this straight. My mother is the bitch queen of all evil and
wants to take over the world. You think that me and a band of teenage
princesses have enough combined power to stop her, and you expect me to lead
battles in this epic war against a hostile takeover?”

Jake cleared his throat again and blushed, nodded his
head slowly. “That about sums it up, Princess.”

“Hell. No. Hell-to-the-no. Forget it. There is no way
you can convince me that I’ve got what it takes to lead a freaking army, let
alone go up against a woman evil and sadistic enough to kidnap seven girls and
cast them into another world. Her doing that was obviously a warning; ‘stay
away little princesses’. Fine by me!”

“You are being irrational,” Rothatin said in that
infuriatingly arrogant way of his. Jocylene turned her narrowed eyes on him.

“Says a man who flew to my rescue tonight on a
gigantic owl! If your world is separate from mine, then it’s all the better for
me because I have no desire to go there or become part of anyone else's plans.”

“Do you have any idea how powerful you are?” Wil
asked, his hands on his hips as he came forward and stared down at her from
behind the smoke trailing out of his pipe.

“I do,” Rothatin muttered as he stared out over the
blanket of pine trees beneath them.

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes. It is easy to see why
Eranna would be afraid of her.”

“Sounds to me like she doesn’t have much to fear,”
Jocylene countered. “If she’s as powerful as you’re telling me, I don’t stand a
chance in Hell.”

“Not by yourself,” Jake agreed. “But with the others—“

“Where are they?” she asked, her arms spread wide. “Where
are these others girls? As far as I can tell, you guys are just casting your
net out to see who you can catch. Sure, you got lucky once and now you’ve done
it a second time. But seven seems like a big number when we’re talking about
the possible end of the world here. Besides, things happen in this world too;
cancer, car wrecks … who says these other girls are even alive? I’m having a
hard time believing your luck will hold out. And then what happens? I’ve given
up what’s left of my life fighting for a lost cause.”

“Do not think to question the powers of the Fae Queen,”
Rothatin growled, coming up from his relaxed pose against the ship’s rail, his
shoulders squared and his jaw gone hard and tight. “Her power is ten times that
of the dark queen and her all-seeing eyes are everywhere. She will find them,
just as she found you.”

“I’m sure your queen is a nice lady, and I mean no
disrespect to her when I ask this but, if she’s so dang powerful, why hasn’t she
stopped my mother herself?”

“Because the Fae are the keepers of fate and destiny,”
Rothatin answered with an agitated eye-roll, as if this were information she
should already be privy to. “We do everything we can to guide those in our
realm on the right path but in the end their decisions are ultimately their
own. We cannot interfere. And even if we wanted to, Eranna’s iron fortress
keeps us out.”

“The Fae’s only weakness is the element of iron,” Jake
supplied from behind Rothatin’s hulking form. “Her fortress is surrounded by
it.”

“Well, you just said yourself that you can’t force me,”
Jocylene huffed. “So, do whatever you need to do to turn this ship around and
take me home. Or, let me off here for all I care. I can find my own way back
home.”

“That is foolish, as well as dangerous,” Wil said to
her retreating back as she turned to make her way back across the deck. “Eranna
will not stop sending her minions after you. Of all the princesses of Fallada,
she fears her own daughters the most!”

She paused and turned, shooting a glance at the three
men watching her walk away with expressions of horror, anger, and dismay on
their faces. “In case your friend here didn’t tell you, I am more than capable
of protecting myself and those kids in there. Send whoever you want; they won’t
get far. Once Michael, Vincent, and Gracie wake up, I’m out of here whether you
want to give me a ride home or not.”

Blurb: In the year 1845, before the mystical
land of Fallada was separated from the realm of men forever, the two worlds
coexisted in harmony. Man could mingle freely in the world of the Elves and
Faeries at will and peace reigned. In the hills of Shropshire, England, just
miles from the gate separating the village of Ludlow from the world of mystical
creatures, farmer’s daughter Zara Wells longs for answers.

It is not only the golden hair that trail feet behind
her, or the strange hue of her violet eyes that separates her from the other
girls her village. There is something inside of her, something touched by magic
that longs to know more about what lies on the other side of the gate. In
Fallada, darkness has begun to spread. As the youngest and most beautiful girls
of her village begin to disappear, Zara comes closer to discovering the true
circumstances surrounding her birth. Little does she know, that the closer she
comes to the answers she so desperately desires, the closer she will come to
being ensnared in the dark queen’s web of growing treachery.

Blurb: These are dark times in the land of
Fallada, and I fear that they will only continue to grow darker. Only the
return of those we’ve lost will even the score.

It will begin with first line of the prophecy, which
foretells of a red sun over the desert sky…

--Adrah, Queen of the Fae

On the outside, seventeen year-old Selena McKinley is
like any other teenage girl. Yet Selena has always felt as if she doesn’t
belong and is counting the days to graduation and her freedom from the small
town that makes her feel so out of place, when the arrival of a stranger turns
her world upside down. Selena will learn just how different she is and the
truth of where she comes from.

A lost princess, they call her, the catalyst for a war
involving a world that Selena was taken from as a child. An evil queen obsessed
with her own beauty with a plan to enslave the human race.…the notion seems so
silly, yet Selena knows in her heart that it is true. Then there is Titus, the
shape shifter whose blue eyes and claims of destiny hold her heart captive. Can
Selena find the strength to do what she must while following her heart?

Ever since she first read books like
Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has been a lover of mind-bending
fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is more than happy to call that
place her home. The mother of two and wife to an Army sergeant loves chocolate,
coffee, and of course good books. When not writing, you can usually find her
with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes and fabulous jewelry, or spending
time with her loving family.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

If you'd read my last post I'd a hectic few days in which I became the Manager of a LinkedIn group, "childrens book authors" [this is now the group's name is spelled]Now, a week later everything is running smoothly for this group, in fact, the changes I made here I also applied to the two LinkedIn groups I already own. The interesting thing now is managing these three groups is taking me less time than when I only had two.We have no children which meant we enjoyed the long holiday weekend just taking care of things which had been put to the side for some time now, and going out to our favorite restaurants.One of my major achievements since my last post is finally writing another chapter of my still untitled Contemporary romance. I haven't thought of a title yet, however I'm going to try to have the last words of the story be the title as well; just like I did with my YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance entitled I Kissed a Ghost.My next post, which I didn't get to do when I originally had wanted to, will be later on in the day, and probably be after dinner.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

You've probably noticed that for the past sixteen plus days aside from posting two interviews and a guest post about writing I haven't done any postings and there are several good reasons for it.First, the KINDLE version of my first YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance novel entitled "I Kissed a Ghost" became available on May 12, 2013

which meant I'd been quite busy with the pre-release and post release marketing/promotion for it. The book is available of Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CRQ9SC6 with the paperback version currently available with a 10% discount. As most of you should know by now I'm the owner of two LinkdedIn groups for some time:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1851208&trk=hb_side_gI officially took over the position pf Manager on May 22 and have spent almost all my time cleaning up the discussions there by removing countless posts most of them made by single individual where the vast majority of the posts made look as if they were actually Tweets for a Twitter account. I've set up automatic messages when someone asks to join the group, when they get their requests denied, and of course a automated message the moment I approved a request to join the group. I set up rules for the group and posted them on my other two groups. I also post four discussions in an attempt to revitalize the group.

It might still take a few days for me to finish working on my groups before I can resume posting on this group on regular basis.My next move is to the same with my other two groups.So I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to check out my three groups and hopefully decide to join them. I'd also appreciate if everyone could take the time and check out my book.THANKS for being here and for your on-going support.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Hi everyone. I'd like you to join me today as I interview Joyce Strand who's volunteer this week to be on the proverbial HOT SEATas I ask her questions about her , her writing, and of course, herself.

Robin Leigh Morgan:
Please introduce yourself. Joyce
T. Strand:Please meet Joyce T. Strand, author of the
Jillian Hillcrest mysteries On Message and Open Meeting, and avid reader of
mysteries and suspense thrillers. I LOVE Broadway musicals, and attend as many
as my budget can support. I served as a PR professional in high tech and
biotech companies for more than 25 years in the San Francisco area. I live in
Southern California near San Diego with my two cats, my collection of cow
statuary, and my muse, the roadrunner.

Robin Leigh:
Tell us about your latest published novel. Joyce:Open Meetings is a Jillian Hillcrest mystery.PR Executive Jillian Hillcrest is having lunch with a reporter colleague
when a woman enters and begs him not to print anything she’s told him because
they will kill her if he does. A few days later, the reporter tells Jillian
that the woman was killed in his hometown in the California wine country.
Police ruled her death as an accident in a car crash caused by driving while
under the influence of alcohol—except the woman had vowed never to drink again.
Jillian joins with the reporter to investigate the suspicious death, and they
both uncover far more than anticipated.

Robin Leigh:
What are the two latest books you’ve already published? Give us about a five
sentence description for each? Joyce:In
addition to Open Meetings, which I described in the previous response, I have
also published On Message,the first
Jillian Hillcrest mystery.Jillian,
the head of corporate communications at Harmonia Therapeutics, is eagerly
staying “on message” to inform investors, the media, and the community about
her company.

A call from a homicide detective interrupts her routine when she
learns of the murder of a friend. She encounters a determined San Francisco
police inspector who is convinced she is the key to her friend’s murder, which
he subsequently connects to another killing. With the help of her
ex-husband–whose attentiveness to her suggests he wants to amend the “ex”
status–and a retired middle-aged intrusive motherly neighbor, Jillian fits
together disparate pieces of the puzzle to help solve the crimes.

Robin Leigh:What can you tell us about your current
writing endeavor? Joyce:I am currently finishing the third Jillian
Hillcrest mystery, Fair Disclosure, which is going through the editing process.
Jillian and her ex-husband are enjoying a play at a local community theater
when a scream interrupts the production upon discovery of a bludgeoned
volunteer. When it turns out that the victim is someone Jillian interviewed for
a job at her company, she becomes involved in another crime, drawn ever deeper
by a second murder, an irate investor, and suspicious stock trading in her
company.

Robin Leigh:Can you give us an excerpt from one of your
favorite scenes in your latest novel? Joyce: From Open Meetings

Chapter 1

“You absolutely cannot print
anything I told you. They'll kill me.”Jillian Hillcrest looked up from
the lunch menu. She saw a non-descript, thin, brown-hair-in-a-bun, middle-aged
woman dressed in jeans and a white V-neck top frantically approaching her lunch
companion, a local reporter. Jillian watched as the reporter quickly stood up,
uttered a brief “Excuse me” to Jillian, and put his arm around the woman,
leading her outside. He appeared to be trying unsuccessfully to calm her along
the way. She continued to plead with him that he must never repeat what she had
told him.

Jillian was interested in what
the woman was saying to the reporter. Somewhere in his late 40s, the tall and
slightly stooped Miles Smith was a stringer for a local newspaper and also had
a blog focusing on city, county, and state government. He had a history of
investigative journalism that impressed and fascinated Jillian. For example, he
had uncovered a county assessor's officer who collected for property value
assessments that weren't done, and then funneled the money into personal bank
accounts. So she was intrigued about whatever it was the frightened woman did
not want Miles to print.

Robin Leigh:What was the inspiration for your latest
novel? Joyce:All of the Jillian
Hillcrest mysteries are inspired by real California cases. Actual events of the
murder of a former biotech executive in La Jolla, Calif. led to On Message. A
series of crimes committed by a network of former and current police officers
in the San Francisco bay area suggested the core plot for Open Meetings.

I based my protagonist, PR Executive Jillian
Hillcrest, on my more than 25 years serving as the head of public relations at
high tech and biotech companies in Silicon Valley.

Robin Leigh:How did you decide what the title of this
book would be? If this book is part of a series, then the books in the series. Joyce:Open
Meetings refers tothe California Brown Act that guarantees citizens’ rights
to attend and participate in meetings of local legislative bodies. As part of
her responsibilities as a PR executive, Jillian works with local communities as
a representative of her company. In Open Meetings much “not-open” corruption
draws her into trouble as part of her community relations duties.

On Message is a phrase used by public
relations practitioners to indicate communicating a particular point, or
message, and continuing to reinforce it through repetition in various
situations. Since Jillian is a public relations practitioner, it seemed like a
good title to connote the book’s environment.

Robin Leigh: Would
you consider yourself to be a plotter or a pantser? Joyce:When
I start writing a new mystery, I know the main characters, opening chapter, the
crime—which is based on a real case—and the conclusion. Jillian and her friends
guide me through the bridging chapters. Frequently, the antagonists gets an
upper hand, and another murder occurs, or Jillian disappears and her ex-husband
has to track her down. I let them guide me as I write as long as we are headed
toward the intended conclusion.

Robin Leigh: What
made you decide to become an author? Joyce:As
an out-of-work public relations professional, I was spending a frustrating time
trying to find a job – for more than a year. My husband, who I’m sure was tired
of my moping, suggested I write a mystery. I had always been a writer.
Throughout my career, I wrote my doctoral dissertation (which I consider my
first book), dozens of by-lined articles, hundreds of press releases, lots and
lots of white papers, fact sheets, and many other documents. To become an
author, I had to learn how to write fiction—and I’m still learning.

Robin Leigh: In
your latest novel, who’s your favorite character male/female? Tell us why. Joyce:In
Open Meetings, I tend to favor Jillian’s friend and neighbor, Cynthia Anderson,
a retired SFPD police officer. She is friendly most of the time, but we gain
insight into her police persona as she helps Jillian and her reporter friend to
track down the truth about a dead informant and her own husband’s death 20
years earlier. I like her because she is a strong—but understated—woman who
chose a typically male career of a policeman, and someone who still engages in
solving crimes when presented with them. She also loves to cook.

Robin Leigh: Do
you set aside a specific amount of time to write, write/answer emails, and
market/promote your book[s]? Joyce:Setting aside a specific
amount of time sounds so organized. I’m really a “just do it” kind of person,
although when I set goals I typically achieve them. When I’m in the middle of
writing a mystery, it becomes my primary driver, and I usually devote more time
to it than marketing. However, I also like to see results. So I gear my
marketing efforts to achieve a certain number of likes,followers and
hits.That helps guide my input so that
my efforts are effective.

Robin Leigh: Do
you read books outside the genre you write in? What are they? Joyce:I
read mostly mysteries and thrillers. However, my favorite book is Shogun a
historical novel about medieval Japan. I do enjoy historical fiction especially
if a mystery is involved. So I guess you could say that I read historical
fiction, which is outside my typical mystery/thriller genre.

Robin Leigh: What
must you have around you when you write; food, drink, music, etc? Joyce: Above all, coffee in the
morning. No music – I need silence. (Yes, I was one of those students who had
to go to the library to study.) I definitely need my computer—not just for
writing but to research. Having a cat on my lap can be helpful, but also
distracting. I use food as a way to take a break and bribe myself to write just
one more chapter.

Robin Leigh: When
you were an aspiring author you needed advice. What advice would you give to
those aspiring author in those shoes today?Joyce:First
– if you want to be a writer, just write. Don’t worry about your first words
being perfect. You’ve got the editing process to re-write as much as you want.

Second, if you self-publish, make sure your book or short
story is error-free. You can control errors and typos. Do not allow your output
to be posted as an e-book with formatting errors, typos or spelling and
grammatical errors. Readers deserve perfection, and they expect it.

Third, help other authors. You can learn much from them.

Fourth, market, market, market. Be prepared to learn more
ways to market, and market some more.

Robin Leigh: Is
there anything else you’d like to briefly tell us about your book, your
writing, or yourself. Joyce: I’d like to ask readers to
please show your appreciation for a book by posting reviews. Aside from the
fact that it takes us authors years to bring a book to market and so we
appreciate hearing from readers, our sales and marketing efforts rely on
reviews.We really need them to be
successful.

Thank you so much, Robin Leigh, for the opportunity to do
this interview.

Are
there any other internet sites you would like to tell us about where we can
find you?

WEB PAGE:http://joycestrand.comJoyce: THANKS
for your time in allowing me to interview you. Robin: You're quite welcomed, it has been my pleasure. I believe my readers as well as yours will be pleased with this informative interview.If you have any comments or questions for Mandy, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from you or answer your questions.If you're not already following this blog. I'd like to invite you to consider following it.

Like my first leading
lady, Sophie, I love listening to rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters.
When I’m not writing, I’m a wife, mother, and occasional teaching assistant.
Rock on!

Robin Leigh: Tell us about your latest published novel.Nicky:Sophie’s
Run. My second book baby… *sighs wistfully* Bringing you glamour, glitz,
intrigue, romance, betrayal, a fire, an exploding cake, a dashing male nurse
and, of course, the gorgeous rock star! What a labor of love. Here’s the blurb:

Her famous star remains her rock while life
takes her on a little detour…

Who says that the road towards true love is straight and even?Sophie is certainly discovering that it is
anything but. So she has finally found the man of her
dreams! Well… she knows who he is, even though she hasn’t actually quite met
him yet.But she misses her opportunity,
and then her life goes crazy.Rock star
and ex-fiancé, Dan, keeps getting in the way of her new romance—even if he is
just trying to be helpful.A fire, an
impromptu mini-trip with Dan, and a dreaded wedding later, Sophie is still
struggling to meet the love of her life. Then, just as she is getting it
together with her perfect man, best friend Rachel commits an act of unspeakable
betrayal.

Sophie has had enough. Confused and distraught, she decides that it is
time for radical change.Surprising
herself and shocking her friends, she embarks on a secret journey and
eventually gets her life back on track.

Robin Leigh: What are the two latest books you’ve already published?
Give us about a five sentence description for each. Nicky:Well, I’ve given you the blurb for Sophie’s Run above.
Here’s the blurb for Sophie’s Turn, my first published novel.

So the rock star wants to marry her, but she’s already engaged… One fine day in Paris, Sophie Penhalligan suddenly finds herself engaged to her teenage crush and love-of-her-life-from-a-distance, rock singer and star extraordinaire Dan Hunter. But there is the small matter of her very recent, but very prior, engagement to Tim. Reliable, honest, trusting Tim, her boyfriend of two years stashed away safely in his mews house in South Kensington while Sophie is drinking rather too much champagne with Dan in Paris. This contemporary romantic fairy tale describes how Sophie gets into her impossible situation and how she turns it around.

Robin Leigh:What can you
tell us about your current writing endeavor?Nicky:Ah. Interesting! See, I’ve just finished the third book in my rock star
romance trilogy. Sophie’s Encore will be published on 5 September! So that
makes my current writing endeavor my
fourth novel.

So, my current WiP. It is a completely new story; no more Sophie and
Dan; instead, you’ll meet Emily, Nate and Mike. Don’t worry, this isn’t a love
triangle. It’s way more sophisticated than that but I don’t want to give too
much away until I’m confident that the plot develops how I want it to. Suffice
it to say that there’ll be a rock star in this book; possibly two!

Robin Leigh:Can you give us
an excerpt from one of your favorite scenes in your latest novel?Nicky:Here’s one of my favorite excerpts from Sophie’s RUN:

Abruptly, he handed me four dresses. The
magical blue one wasn’t among them. “Try these on,” he commanded. Fingering one
of the dresses lightly, I sighed heavily. They looked divine. And expensive.

Dan rolled his eyes as though to say, “Not
that old chestnut again.” Grabbing a random dress off the rack, he disappeared
in a cubicle and pulled the curtain shut behind him. This got the personal
shopper’s attention. She jumped up from her chair and walked over to me
swiftly, eyes swiveling between me and the cubicle. She cleared her throat,
uncertain how to handle this.

"Did he…did he go in there?” she confirmed
unnecessarily.

“It looks that way,” I offered, trying not
to laugh at her disconcerted expression.

“He’s not—is he trying the dress on?”

“Err, yes.” I breathed. “Why, is that a
problem?”

Meanwhile, Dan had run into trouble in the
changing room.

“I need some shoes,” he shouted woefully.
“Could you get me some shoes to match? Size ten please, for me, and size six
for the lady as well. Please?”

Confronted with a direct request, the
personal shopper sprang into action. “Schuhe…”
she murmured. “Size forty-four and size thirty-nine…. Hmm…” She bustled off.

Finally erupting into laughter, I bounced
into Dan’s cubicle. I was going to ask him what he was doing, but the words
stuck in my mouth. There he was, in a bright orange, low-cut, floor-length
dress with a big bow at the front. He had filled in the missing curves using
his socks, and he hadn’t managed to do up the zip. He looked disturbingly
attractive in ladies’ fashion.

“Will you do me up?” Dan turned his back to
me and tugged experimentally at the fastening. I swatted his hands away and
closed the zip to halfway up Dan’s back.

“It won’t go any further,” I informed him
dryly. “By the way, did you know your dress is called GaGa?” My eyes had caught
on the flashy black-on-orange label sown inside the back.

“I didn’t, but it makes sense. It’s a wild
dress.” He gave a little twirl. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re nuts,” I snorted. “You be
sure not to ruin this dress or else we’ll have to buy it.”

“Never fear,” he grinned wickedly. “It
would look much better on you, though.”

I shook my head. “I don’t do orange. Not if
you paid me.”

A discreet cough disturbed our
whispered conversation.

“Excuse me, sir? Madam? I’ve got
your shoes…”

“Great,” Dan enthused and stepped
out of the cabin. “Let’s have them.” He took a pair of orange flats out of the
assistant’s hands and regarded them critically.

“I was hoping for heels,” he
announced with a straight face, and I almost peed in my pants with laughter.

The assistant was now in
professional mode. “I can’t offer you heels in this style in your size,” she
announced, “but I do think we have some silver-colored shoes that would work
with the dress. The heels are—” She looked attentively at Dan. “The heels are
probably about six centimeter stilettos. Would you like to try them?”

“Why, yes!” Dan enthused. “I most
certainly would.”

The personal shopper went off to
fetch the silver stilettos, and Dan grinned his wicked boy smile at me.

“Do you reckon she’ll let us take
a picture?” he wondered out loud.

“Hm…possibly, why?” I wondered
back.

“It’d be cool to stick up on our
website, don’t you think?”

I regarded him critically. He was
most probably joking, but with Dan you never did know.

"Yeah. But perhaps you ought to
tuck those socks in more carefully,” I suggested, tugging playfully at a
black-and-pink striped heel that was protruding from his chest area. “It does
rather kill the look.”

He peered down his front
appraisingly. “D’you reckon?” he asked. “I think it has something, this
unexpected flash of black sock.”

“Well, it does rather go with
your hairy chest,” I conceded. “If you’re serious about the dress, you might
consider shaving.”

Robin Leigh:What was the
inspiration for your latest novel?Nicky:Let me tell you about the inspiration for the Rock Star
Romance Trilogy. You see, this is all my husband’s fault. He knows I have a
‘thing’ for rock stars. He’s made his peace with the notion. Yet sometimes, he
can’t resist teasing me. So imagine the scene. Here’s Nicky, over eight years
ago, heavily pregnant, watching something on the telly involving one of her
favorite stars. Nicky swoons. “Cor, if he ever proposed, how’d a girl turn him
down?” Nicky’s husband, deadpan: “Good job you’re married to me then.”

We had a laugh about this but it got me thinking. What would I do if Jon Bon Jovi knocked on my
door tomorrow? Well, nothing, is the answer. But in a different life… and
there, the story was born.

Robin Leigh:How did you
decide what the title of this book would be? If this book is part of a series,
then the books in the series.Nicky:Interesting question! Sophie’s Turn was born under the
title “Full Circle” and lived as such for nearly six years. It was only when I
was trying to figure out a cover design that I realized the title didn’t work.
It lacked a certain… panache. My husband pushed me and pushed me, trying to
distill the nugget of the story—which, in essence, is about choice. Well, the
title “Sophie’s Choice” was very much taken so I opted for “Sophie’s Turn” and
the title works on so many levels… it was just perfect.

“Sophie’s Run” and “Sophie’s Encore” followed on naturally, both playing
on the key ideas of the respective book. Although my personal favorite is, I
have to say, “Sophie’s Encore”. You’ll have to read the book to find out why…
Did I mention it’s out in September?

Robin Leigh: Would you consider yourself to be a plotter or a
pantser?Nicky:Plotter. Compulsive, obsessive plotter. Iterative plotter! From nugget
to hand-drawn plan on one-page, to hand-drawn page on two-meter piece of paper,
to Word outline, to detailed chapter-by-chapter crib sheet and research notes.
I use colored post-its to track character development and sub plots. Yes, I am
a plotter.

Robin Leigh: What made you decide to become an author?Nicky:Um. I didn’t really decide that, it kind of happened. Maybe I was born
that way, because writing in some capacity or another has been the core
professional theme in my life. Maybe I simply got lucky and had the
opportunity, when the time was right, to get writing fiction… and keep writing.
Either way, it’s a life-long ambition, a dream come true. And it gets me
excited to ‘go to work’ every day!

Robin Leigh: In your latest novel, who’s your favorite character
male/female? Tell us why.Nicky:That would have to be Dan, the rock star; referring
back to the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. I want one of him. Kind, caring, highly
talented, good-lucking, powerful, musical, smart, funny, not to mention sexy…
with just a hint of naughty in there for a bit of excitement. *swoons*

Robin Leigh: Do you have a set aside a specific amount of time to
write, write/answer emails, and market/promote your book[s]?Nicky:Oh yes. I can only pursue my authorly existence during the school day,
between 9 am and 3 pm during term time. Holidays are a different matter and I
won’t bore you with the detail.

So,
between 9am and noon, I write. I don’t do anything but. No phone, email,
Internet. Just write. (Oh, and I drink copious amounts of tea!). After lunch, I
catch up on emails and do all the promotion I can squeeze into the available
time; yes, that meansFacebook,
Twitter, blog and so on.

Robin Leigh: Do you read books outside the genre you write in? What
are they?Nicky:I read almost anything. I
don’t particularly like science fiction or horror, but apart from that, I’m
game. Firm favorites outside of the romance genre are crime and travel books.

Robin Leigh: What must you have around you when you write; food,
drink, music, etc?Nicky:Tea. Milk, and two sugars please. Biscuits. And a
cardigan; my office is an ice box, even in the summer!

Robin Leigh: When you were an aspiring author you needed advice,
what advice would you give to those aspiring author in those shoes today?Nicky:LOL, Robin, in many ways I’m still an aspiring author. Yes, I have books
published, but I still want to write more, grow my readership, improve my
craft… I think it’ll take another twenty or so years before I consider myself
‘accomplished’! J

But in answer to your question… here goes.

1)Build an author
platform as early as you can. Blog, Facebook, Twitter—you have to have a
presence, a means to connect with readers.

2) Build a brand.
What is it you write? What makes you unique? Be clear about your brand—it tells
your readers what to expect.

3)Don’t oversell. In
fact, don’t sell, as such. Build relationships. Make friends. Let your friends
know about your books. Honestly! Think about it. When is the last time you
bought a book because an author told you every five minutes in your Twitter
stream, Buy My Book? Exactly. It turns you off. So don’t sell. Be you, live
your books, your excitement, and share that with your friends and potential
readers.

4)Write, and keep
writing. The ONLY way forward is to keep writing, to show the world what you’re
made of.

Robin Leigh: If there’s anything else you’d like to briefly tell us
about your book, your writing, or yourself.Nicky:Did I mention I love rock music? Ha ha ha, I bet I did.
Robin, I think I’ve said enough and I can’t thank you enough for your time. I
hope your readers enjoy meeting me here today!

Robin Leigh: THANKS for your time in allowing me to interview you.Nicky:THANK YOU, Robin, it’s been a pleasure! If you have any comments or questions for Mandy, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from you or answer your questions.If you're not already following this blog. I'd like to invite you to consider following it.

About Me

I’m
a retired NYCity employee who’s been married for 22 sans
children.“I Kissed a Ghost”, a YA
[Young Adult] Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance, is my debut romance novel which got released in December 2012.

On December 1, 2014 - I released my second book, "Micro Fiction - An Anthology"

I’m in the process of writing several books:

An adult Contemporary with
a paranormal element running through parts of the storyline entitled “His
Darkest Secret." A MG/YA Urban Fantasy novella titled "The Secret of the Well" which is a stand-alone sequel to my first book.

In August of 2014, I began my 2nd second career, that of a Book Reviewer, As of July 8, 2016 I've read/reviewed 333 books, and my Amazon Reviewer Ranking is 4,662. I must be doing something right.